Ed Davey announces £98m for renewables in Africa

Energy Secretary Ed Davey announced a £98 million programme to support renewable energy generation in Africa.

He made the announcement today as he arrived in Doha for the second week of the UN climate talks. The fund will support the ‘Green Africa Power’ (GAP) initiative, which aims to attract private sector investment for green energy and finance around 270MW of new renewable generation capacity.

The cash is part of the UK’s International Climate Fund to help developing countries tackle climate change and reduce poverty.

Mr Davey said: “Climate change is a global threat and with every passing year, the nature and the extent of that threat grows clearer. We also recognise that the world’s poorest will be hit the hardest by the impacts of climate change and we need to help communities adapt to these challenges. Climate finance is fundamental to building resilience and capacity for countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

The UK is working with Norway, Germany and Uganda and will contribute £14 million to the ‘Get Fit’ project, which will support small-scale on-grid renewable energy projects in Uganda. It is also providing £1.5 million over four years to work with 10 developing countries to help them develop strategies to cut their emissions.